Research

RESEARCH ON HOME SHARING: Home sharing for those experiencing homelessness is not a new concept, and is encouraged by HUD and other federal, state, and local agencies.

Here are some general websites/information regarding Home Sharing in the U.S. and around WA State, and its use to reduce homelessness:

National Shared Housing Resource Center. (Click on link for site)NSHRC is a clearinghouse of information for people looking to find a shared housing organization in their community or to help get a program started. This site gives “best practices” for this form of housing, per HUD. A national trade organization can play a vital role in establishing shared housing as an important part of the affordable housing sector as well as in educating funders and policymakers. NSHRC has existed as an umbrella group for shared housing programs for over 20 years.

Shared Housing Services. Shared Housing Services offers low-income individuals and families innovative and affordable solutions in King County, Pierce County, Thurston County and City of Tacoma. They have operated adult home share programs since 1991.http://www.sharedhousingservices.org/#head

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. For someone with a mental health condition, the basic necessity of a stable home can be hard to come by. The lack of safe and affordable housing is one of the most powerful barriers to recovery. When this basic need isn’t met, people cycle in and out of homelessness, jails, shelters and hospitals. Having a safe, appropriate place to live can provide stability to allow you to achieve your goals. NAMI has a good web page on various types of housing as it relates to mental health. https://www.nami.org/Find-Support/Living-with-a-Mental-Health-Condition/Securing-Stable-Housing

A published 20-page academic article entitled “Is Shared Housing a Way to Reduce Homelessness? The Effect of Household Arrangements on Formerly Homeless People.” The authors are researchers from Yale University and Columbia University. It analyzes data from a 5-year, 18-site demonstration project with over 6,000 formerly homeless individuals as participants. Its conclusion: “Shared housing does not appear to affect its users adversely in most of the dimensions we examined. On the contrary, in some dimensions it appears to help… The idea that sharing reduces psychotic symptomology has intuitive appeal. Isolation leads people to dwell on their own internal thinking, while having contact with others fosters a focus on the interpersonal socialized world.” Published in the Journal of Housing Economics – 2010. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862009/

Website “SPACE10” with many interesting articles about “Shared Living”, and “Co-living” and “Shared House” in modern times and the future. The website SPACE10 is, “A future living lab on a mission to design a more sustainable and meaningful everyday for many people.” https://medium.com/space10/tagged/sharedliving